Guests of the Undesirable Variety
by X3
Summary: Boarding party, blood, violence, pirates, Simon and Kaylee-revised
1. one

Title:  Guests of the Undesirable Variety

By:  X

Rated: PG-13 (non-Chinese bad words plus, see summary)

Summary:  Boarding party, blood, violence, Simon and Kaylee-revised

Disclaimer:  I own none of these people; the Buffy guy has them all forever (even if he's not using them right now).  I really can't get any money for this either, so it's just a work of fiction, dreamt up to amuse myself and maybe you.

A/N: Reworked and fleshed out for your enjoyment.  

Wash was deep in concentration as he entered Serenity's common area.  He was staring intently at the display in his hand, wiggling the stylus absently as he thought.  Much of the crew was already in the room.  Mal sat at a table, grumbling as he organized the bills into piles of "this month" "next month" and "when hell freezes over".  Kaylee was seated cross legged on the floor, tinkering with a pipe shaped part.  She'd pulled wires out of one end and was attempting to untangle them.  Simon was on the couch directly over the engineer, lost in what he was reading.  Book was playing solitaire across the table from Mal and the bills.  

            "I just need a 13 letter word that means thoughtful, then I'd have this thing cracked wide open" Wash mumbled 

            "Conscientious" said Simon without missing a beat or looking up from his text.

            "Thanks man, Uhm..."

            "CON-S-C-I--E-N-T--IOUS" 

            "Once again, thank you Doc." Wash continued to stare at the puzzle for a few minutes.  "A 4 letter word for bet" he mumbled

"Ante" replied Simon

"Alright doctor, Weapons for toxophilites, 4 letters"

"Bows"

"Frenchman that epitomizes the Age of Enlightenment, has an O as the 2nd letter from conscientious"

"Voltaire" 

"3 letter 'tool'?"

"Awl, A-W-L, puzzles like that one"  

"Wow Doc!  You're really good at these"

"He's a genius Wash; of course he's good at these."  Kaylee pointed out.

"I used to do them a lot when I was younger, passed the time at those adult social events."

"This is for a contest, grand prize 200 credits, and the first person to transmit the puzzle done right wins.  Think you could finish this?"  Wash asked, putting his display between Simon's eyes and what he was reading.  Sighing, the doctor put down his book and took the offered screen and stylus.  He tapped away for a couple minutes and handed it back to the pilot.  

"There you go" and Simon went back to his reading.  Wash looked at the puzzle, all the answers were there, and they sure looked correct.  

"Alright!  Prize money here I come!"

"Are sure you are comfortable claiming Dr. Tam's answers as your own?"

"Yes, yes I am.  Because Simon can't let anyone know where he is; being a fugitive and all.  So there is no reason to let those answers go to waste.  We could use that money."

"He's right Preacher, we could use the money."  Mal pointed out, finally looking up from the bills. Glancing at the tall pile of 'this month' he added, "Or we could just stop eating."  Wash smiled broadly and ran off to transmit 'his' answers.  

Truth be told cheating certainly was low on the list of their vices. Mal wasn't surprised that Book was against this plan; he was a Shepard after all.  But maybe he could have given them a little credit; they weren't even really being that dishonest.  Sure Simon had done the puzzle and not Wash so the name on the form was a kind of lie.  But the contest rules didn't prohibit Simon from entering.  If it wasn't for Simon being a fugitive this plan would actually have been legit!

Wash did win.  Grand prize, the 200 credits was his.  So the Serenity went to Delta Primus to claim his prize.  It really wasn't that far a detour from their original course and since their original course was just aiming for any planet that might have work it really didn't matter that they detoured.  It was in the wrong direction, towards the core, but in fact, there was a prospect for work on Primus, an old buddy of Mal's was supposedly there running a shipping business of some sort.  If luck went their way they'd get the prize money and a nice easy shipping job.  

Serenity set down at the docking station they were assigned.  Wash hadn't stopped smiling since he'd received the notification that he'd won.  You'd think he'd actually done more than hand the contest puzzle to the ships resident brilliant doctor from the way he was carrying on.  Wash raced down the sloped gang plank onto the ground and was followed by Mal and Zoe at a more leisurely pace.

"Wash, honey, you won, you'll get the prize whether you get there in 10 minutes or if you don't run like a maniac and take 20 minutes."  Zoe explained.  

"I know, I'm just, you know, I don't win that often"

Mal leaned close to his pilot's ear, "You didn't actually win this either" he pointed out.

Wash sighed, "Couldn't let me have my moment could you?"  As this conversation progressed they had been making their way to the claims office.  By now they were right outside their destination.  "But, I am willing to live the lie for the good of the mission Captain" and Wash dramatically swept into the building.  Mal waited outside until the childish blond and his wife returned.  It was only a few minutes before they came out again, Wash smiling broadly.  

"I assume you got your winnings."  Mal said.  

"I sure did all 200!" 

"You've inspired me Wash.  I'm feeling lucky.  You two head back to Serenity, I've got to see a man about some cargo."

Byron Clawfield was an old friend of Mal's.  They'd know each other for years but hadn't really spoken in some time.  So, when Mal had sent a message, saying he'd be arriving in a couple days and that he'd like work if his old buddy could spare it, Byron was a little surprised.  But, Malcolm's message did present quite an opportunity.  Byron had made his fortune by stepping on whoever he could.  Mal was just asking for some boot prints.  

Byron did have a shipment of guns that he was supposed to see delivered out to the fringe world of Galatose.  It was a heavily insured shipment of guns.  Those were Byron's favorite kind of shipment because if something happened to the ship that was transporting them he got the first half of the payment for the job, as well as a hefty insurance settlement.  Then if Byron happened to be able to recover those guns he could resell them back to the competition of the original buyer.  It was defiantly a very profitable situation.  He could hire Mal to make the delivery, and then hire the usual band of pirates to take the shipment back.  He wouldn't have to pay Mal the second half of what he owed and he'd make loads on the resale and insurance settlement.  The speaker on his desk buzzed.  Byron had a self satisfied smile as he pushed the red button and his secretary's voice filled the luxurious office.  

"Mr. Clawfield, Malcolm Reynolds is here to see you.  He does have an appointment."

Byron smiled, "Of course he does, send him in."

Mal entered the spacious office of his old friend.  Byron was behind his desk, smiling like Wash.  He was smiling like he'd won something.  

"Hey Byron!" he greeted warmly.

"Mal you old soldier!  Great to see you!  I hear you are in the market for a job."

"That's right, I've got a good crew and we just want some work.  We don't care what kind of job it is."  Mal lowered his voice a little, "If you know what I mean."

Byron was still smiling.  He had a job for them all right.  He might as well try and get a little information for his bandits.  "What kind of ship?"

"Serenity's a Firefly class, a good dependable ship."

"How big a crew Mal?  You weren't known for working well with others."

"There are 5 of us, plus our preacher and a registered companion that rides with us."  Mal wasn't going to mention Simon and River.  Byron was a cargo man, wouldn't be impressed by a doctor and no one could know about River.

"Fancy of ya"

"Yeah, it's quite a crew.  We can handle whatever you'll throw at us."

Byron mused that Mal sure was proud of his crew. Proud, as well as either just a little desperate for work or ready for this meeting to end.  From what he knew of Mal he was probably was repeating they would take any job so that he could get out of this meeting.  Mal had always been more of a soldier than a businessman.  

"Yeah, I got a job I think you and that great crew of yours will be just perfect for."

Mal left his meeting with Byron a happy man.  This job was going to pay well.  The ship's cut would cover just about all the bills for this month and next week plus all the crew member cuts weren't bad.  Mal could just imagine all the guns Jayne was going to bring home with his share.  Of course this was Jayne's kind of mission anyway; the whole job was based around guns.  


	2. two

The invasion was abrupt, no warning.  Serenity had been packed up with the guns, taken off and had been traveling for a little more than a day when the attack came.  It had all been so normal, nothing out of the ordinary about this run.  Then suddenly another ship had latched on.  The enemy ship had been hiding from Serenity's sensors within the gravitational oddity surrounding a planet.  They'd appeared just when they broke orbit and were already on top of the firefly class ship.  Wash did his best to lose them, but being that close even the seasoned pilot couldn't keep away from their grasp.  

"I'd make an announcement Mal, looks like they're coming on."  A string of obscenities erupted from Mal.  The pirates forced the airlock and stormed the ship. "Or you know, we could just let everyone find out for themselves."

"Shut up Wash" he reached over and pushed a button on the panel.  "We've been boarded.  I want you all to find someplace safe; we'll take care of this."  He removed his finger, "I think.  Where the hell is Jayne when you need him and those guns?!"

Like the last time Serenity was infiltrated Jayne was asleep on his bunk.  He didn't hear the announcement.  He didn't know anything was wrong.  

"Alright, do this and get off. Farland, Kinney, Donel, Harkins and Stevens all of you head up to the command area, secure the crew there.  There should be 7 in all on this boat, including a companion and a preacher. So, Brown check out those shuttles and Lee check the rest of the crew cabins.  I want all 7 accounted for, no surprises.   Levin hit the infirmary, grab what's there.  Spitz and Rosenthall look around for anything else of value.  The rest of you, we empty the cargo bays."  The leader, William Swanson, looked at the 20 idiots before him that made up his crew.  They were a bunch of shoot first and sort it out later hot heads and he hated them all.  It made this type of work harder than it had to be and had cost them more than one job. "Go.  Now!" he snapped.

Morgan Kinney, Mathew Harkins, Craig Farland, Josh Stevens, and Sarah Donel made no effort to be quiet as they made their way to the command area of this ship.  They'd done Firefly class before, they knew where it was.  They also knew the crew would be waiting for them.  It wouldn't matter though.  Morgan stopped in her tracks on the landing in front of their destination.  "Someone's here" she whirled and was face to face with Zoe.  The women grappled.  Zoe tried to kick Kinney's legs out from under her but the lithe pirate twisted away.  Morgan grabbed the veteran around the waist, trying to pull her to the floor, Zoe pushed forward, slamming Kinney into the wall.  

Farland grabbed Zoe by the hair and the next thing he knew was someone was sitting on his chest.  "Stay away from my wife" came a growl in his ear.  Wash was roughly pulled from Farland by Stevens.  Both men were small and the effort overbalanced the pirate.  Both tumbled into the wall.  

Zoe pulled out the first gun and shot at Farland.  Her shot went wide and missed.  Mal came storming onto the scene in response to the gunfire.  He was the cavalry.  Mal was attacked by Harkins and Donel who had been waiting for whatever reinforcements might show up.  Together they easily removed the gun Mal had drawn.  The three Serenity crew members were outnumbered and unprepared.  Still the fight raged on for what seemed like hours.  

Harkins charged the captain and the brick wall of a man drove him back towards the door.  Harkins had his beefy shoulder driven just under Mal's collarbone. It was obviously uncomfortable but left Harkins' a little vulnerable.  Mal reached forward and pulled Mathew's own gun from his side holster.  As he felt the crush of the door jam against his back Mal fired and hit the pirate in the shoulder.  

"Yeah" cheered Mal as he stepped away from the door and Harkins staggered first backwards, then forwards, dangerously unsteady on his feet.  The next thing Mal felt was a heavy weight as he watched Harkins run into him and the sensation of falling backwards.  Then he felt a crack of pain in the back of his skull and the darkness overtook him.

Zoe and Wash saw Mal crushed under the big man.  In another situation the sight could have been hilarious.  Ignoring their comrade the invaders took the distraction as a way to overtake the remaining two serenity crew members.  Farland and Kinney both threw themselves and Zoe, pressing her to the deck.  A rope was produced and Zoe could feel herself being tied up.  Wash valiantly tried to get to his wife but an elbow to the neck from Josh drove him to his knees.  Time was wasting; they quickly tied up Wash as well.  Donel pulled out her radio, "We got 3 Captain- 2 guys and a girl.  I think one of them's the captain here."

"Good job, get back down here, help with the loading."

"Uh, Harkins got shot, should I take him back to the ship?"

"Again, that idiot.  Yes, take him back Donel.  But the rest of you, let's get this stuff loaded so we can get off this junker."

"Yes sir" Donel helped the semi conscious man to his feet.  She got under one arm, Farland under the other.  Stevens moved to the unconscious man underneath.

"I'll be right there; we gotta tie this gut up too."

"Of course.  See you down there."  Then they lumbered off.  

Simon Tam heard Mal over the ship wide comm., "We've been boarded."    He wondered what the captain would have them do next.  But he never did get to hear the rest of the announcement.  Standing in the doorway was a very large, very angry man.  In addition to being very large and very angry the intruder had a very large barreled gun pointed at Simon.  River stared, tears streaming down her young face.  She knew what was happening, how these events would play out.  The intruder pulled out a radio and was momentarily distracted as he made his report.  

"Got 2 in the infirmary- kid and a young guy" he told whoever was on the other end of the transmission.

"Tie them up and grab the stuff Levin you moron, we got stuff to do."

"Will do"

"You remember what I told you to do if this sort of thing happened?"  Simon quietly asked his sister while the intruder spoke to his commander.  River nodded imperceptibly.  Her brother had had told her to run, to disappear, run and hide with Inara in her shuttle.  River was good at disappearing.  

"You the Doc round here?" Simon didn't know what response would leave him less dead.  But he also needed to create a diversion so at least River could get away. 

"Uhm, maybe?" he answered, smiling.

 "You're lucky I don't care one lick if you are or not.  Don't know why I asked in fact."  The angry man squeezed the trigger and an echoing explosion filled the room.  A bottle on the shelf behind the doctor exploded as Simon sunk slowly to his knees.  There was warmth, the edges of his vision were fuzzy, and of course a blanketing pain caused by the bullet ripping through his shoulder.  River ran as fast as she could, tears hitting the deck as she ran without looking back.

Simon watched his sister go and smiled a little.  The smile melted when the intruder turned towards the door, most likely to follow River.  Simon did the only thing he could; he staggered to his feet and threw himself bodily at the intruder's back.  Forgetting about River completely, the large man growled and threw the wounded doctor back to the floor.  Simon slid a short distance and crashed into the legs of the diagnostic table.  

"What the hell!  I've had enough of you man!"  Simon struggled to push himself up into a sit using his one good arm. Maybe he could get away some how.  Up on his elbow Dr. Tam was looking at the gun once again trained on his chest.  Nothing else was said.  The room just echoed with another gunshot.

River Tam ran as fast as she could down the hall.  As she hit the cargo bay she ducked fast behind a stack of crates.  The room was full of people.  They were roughly opening the boxes and carrying the guns through the airlock.  River hid in the shadows and inched her way towards the stairs.  There was another gunshot.  River bit her lip to keep from yelping.  It was all too much.  Her feeling sensitive brain was overloading she was petrified.  Things were bad, she was afraid, the crew was afraid, bad things were happening.  The room was spinning.  Part of River retreated far into her mind.

"Damn, somebody's shooting" laughed one of the men.

"You know it was Levin, man's getting older, thinks he's got somthin' a prove" added another.  Distracted for a few minutes with their discussion River took the opportunity to slip a couple of the smaller guns from the crate and put one in each pocket.  Noticing they were still making fun of Levin, she grabbed a larger rifle and dipped her head through the strap.  

"Fear and Pain and Laughter-then all topsy turvy- Laughter, pain and fear." She mumbled to herself as she crawled "I'm on safari"


	3. three

Christopher Brown was a rather peaceful man, surprisingly laid back for a pirate.  He calmly overrode all the locks and security measures on the companion's shuttle and pushed open the hatch.  Inside it was just as he expected, a lavishly decorated room containing a beautiful woman.  

"Hi-ya" he told her, he pulled out a radio and spoke to someone else, "Found the companion."

"You secure her?" came a disembodied voice

"Yeah, she's real secure"

"Good, get the stuff and head back to the ship."

"Will do chief" Then he turned back to Inara, "Sorry about the interruption, as I said, hi-ya"

"Uhm-hello" Inara responded.  She was a little surprised by the pirate's jovial attitude.  He began stuffing stuff into the empty bag he carried.  "Excuse me"

"Yeah babe?" he stuffed a pillow into the bag and walked towards the table.

"Aren't you going to threaten me and tie me up or something?"

"No"

"Aren't you afraid I might stop you?"

"I out weigh you by 50 pounds, plus if you did get off your little pleasure boat here there are about 10 guys right below us looting the cargo bay.  Some of them aren't too nice.  Not like me." He gave her what he must have thought was a glowing smile.  "So I'm just gonna recommend you stay put until we're gone."  He stuffed her jewelry box into the bag.  Inara was quite while he continued his work.  

"What about the others?"

"They'll probably be tied up about the ship.  We got a few real hot heads among us, but generally the crews usually fair pretty well."

 "And you know as soon as your ship leaves I'm going to go untie everyone?"

"Yep, they always do"

"You do this a lot?"

"'Course cupcake." He had filled his bag to the top.  The shuttle looked so empty now.  Without a word Brown nodded towards Inara and left.  

Staring upwards at the ceiling Simon just listened as the intruder cleaned out his medical supplies.  The man swept the tiny glass bottles into boxes.  He couldn't have moved to stop him even if had wanted to.  The pain was like a lead weight on his chest.  Breathing was hard and he could feel the blood sliding down his side.  His arm was just numb. Eventually the infirmary grew silent.  He was gone, Simon was alone.  Time seemed to crawl.  Simon was smart; the logical part of him knew it was passing normally.  But, it was hard to get a feel for time lying on the floor, knowing your life is slowly ending.  

River crawled down the hall on her hands and knees down the hall.  She watched a short man roughly opening all the doors.  River watched him for a minute.  He disappeared into one; River scooted past as fast as she could.  She was the tiger, they were hunting her.  She continued crawling down the hall and suddenly stopped. She smiled broadly.  She didn't have to be the hunted.  River opened the door and slipped inside as quietly as possible.  

It was Jayne's room.  Jayne was sleeping on his bunk, one arm thrown over his eyes the other hanging off the edge of the bed.  The noises he was making indicated it was probably a nice dream.  "Wake up!" yelled River as she threw both her hands down on top of him.  Jayne's eyes shot open, the hand that had been hanging free swung up to only millimeters away from the intruder and brandished a gun that had appeared from nowhere.

"Dam!  You gotta be more careful!" he yelled, realizing it was just the ship's crazy girl.  

"They're here!  Kill, kill, kill" River explained calmly

"You never make sense kid, why don't you go bother that brother of yours."  River looked down at her feet.  Jayne didn't know what was going on, but he'd clearly upset her.

"Nearly forgot.  A bad sister."

"Aw now, come on.  You're just crazy is all.  Whatever ya forgot is just cuz you're crazy."

In a moment of semi-clarity River explained, "Invaders took the ship, hunt the crew."

"What!" River shook her, trying to organize her thoughts.  

"They came on Serenity, I don't know, don't know about Simon.  Poor Simon."

"So there are intruders on Serenity?"

"Yes, poachers, coming to hunt us all.  But we can fight back"

"You're damn right we will.  Let's go girl!"  Jayne uncovered his guns and picked up Maggie and Noel.  Both very fine guns.  "We'll get the low down, then eject those bastards.  How many and where are they?"  

"21-52.3% are in the cargo bay, 23.8% are leaving the cockpit, 9.52% are in the kitchen, 4.76% each in the Shepard's room, Inara's shuttle, and the infirmary."

"Uhm, wow.  That's a lot of guys, and a lot of math."

"80.96% are heading back to their ship in the next 20 minutes"

"How many is that?"

"17"

"So if we staked out the cargo bay…"

T'we Lee opened the door at the first crew quarters on this side of the hall, it was empty.  Lee moved to the next door.  Somebody lived here, they just weren't home.  Lee stuffed the few books into his bag.  He looked but found nothing else of value.  So he moved onto the next room. It was empty.  

Book sat in his room.  He could hear the invader approaching.  He reached under the mattress he was laying on and pulled out a gun.  It was no Vera, but it would do.  Book trained his gun on the door.  When it opened Book aimed for the knee and fired.  But Lee was quick and spun out of the way.  He jumped at the Preacher and pinned him against the bed. There was a struggle. Book managed to push him off and struggled to get his fingers back in position.  With a squeeze the bullet flew from the chamber.  As the Shepard hadn't bothered to aim the metal simply ripped into the intruder's foot.  With a growl Lee clocked Book in the back of the head with his gun.  The Shepard slid off the bed and hit the floor.

"Got the preacher" Lee announced into the radio.  There was silence.  "Also got shot"

"Fine, preacher's secure, get your wounded butt back on the ship."

"Will do"

In the cargo hold the shipment was just about loaded.  Only 2 of the original 10 guys who'd been emptying the cargo remained.  He'd sent Spitz and Rosenthal back as soon as their ransacking had been completed.  Brown was back on board; Lee was in their infirmary where Donel and Farland had taken Harkins.  Stevens had come back moments after Kinney and they had been helping Levin and the remaining 2 men, Curtis and Allen, to finish up.  

"Curtis, Allen, why don't you head back, make sure we are ready to push off in a minute or two" Swanson suggested.  The men nodded and jogged across the empty room towards their ship.  

Jayne watched the men bounce off.  Now there were 4.  He and River had been watching the scene before them for several minutes now, waiting for the right time to strike.  The element of surprise was on their side and from what he had heard they both were an incredible shot.  "You ready?" he asked

"Hunter becomes the hunted" River calmly pronounced, continuing with her muddled safari metaphor.  

The sounds of bullets flying filled the cargo bay.  "Where the hell is that coming from! We got them all!" Captain Swanson yelled at his remaining crew as he pulled further behind a bulkhead.

"You Sure?" asked Kinney

"Brown had 1- the companion, Lee found the preacher, another 1.  The pilot, the captain and a woman were all up on command with you guys, that's 3.  Levin had 2 in the infirmary. 1+1+3+2=7!"

"I had 1 not 2" piped up Levin

"You said you had a guy and a girl, 2!"

"I just shot one guy, kinda forgot about the girl."  Bullets flew from 2 distant directions now.  They were moving in for the kill.  Swanson recognized it and had no intention of dying for these idiots.

"Get off now!" came a strong man's voice

"Your little girl's gone through a change of life now hasn't she?" sneered Swanson at the incompetent Levin

"She really was a little girl!"

Jayne stepped around the wall protrusion the remaining pirates were hiding behind.  River provided more than ample cover fire from her position on the stairs.  

"The old man is snoring.  He won't get up in the morning" she sing-songed.  In the back Stevens reached for one of the guns they hadn't finished loading onto their ship.  Rive shot cleanly through the center of his hand.  The man screamed in pain and withdrew closer to the wall.

"You guys gonna give us our stuff back and head outta here right?"

"Not on your life you Neanderthal!" yelled Levin.  Swanson turned around and planted a bullet in the middle of the aging man's foreheadad.  Levin hit the deck, dead.

"That'll be fine" Swanson told Jayne, pulling out the radio.  "I want the haul back on the deck here.  Drop it and go, we're bailing, no job is worth our lives."  Jayne continued to glare and keep a steady aim on Swanson as men streamed through the airlock and deposited bag after bag on the floor.  

"So, who gave you this job?"

"You know how these things work, I can't tell you."  River landed a series of bullets in the deck around Swanson.  Then she giggled madly.  "Clawfield, Mr. Clawfield pays us to raid his ships all the time."


	4. four

"All clear" came Wash's voice. He sounded tired.  There had probably been quite a fight up there.  Mal wasn't the type of captain to let his cargo go that easily.  "Let's check out what they did."  Kaylee crawled out from behind the engines.  The invaders were gone.  They hadn't come anywhere near the engine room.  She wondered what they'd taken; probably the whole cargo.  Damn, they'd needed the money from that job.  Looking on the bright side she was glad at least everyone was OK.  Of course she had no proof of that.  Better find the others she reasoned, climbing the ladder up to another deck.

She passed the infirmary, noticing the mess through the windows.  Poor Simon, he tried to keep that place so neat.  She remembered when Jayne had trashed it looking for tape.  Deciding to survey the damage, maybe help Simon out with the clean up, she entered the little room.  Her initial reaction to what she saw was to throw her hands over her eyes.  That could not have been what she saw.  No way.  She slowly moved her hands and looked down.

Simon's white shirt was barely recognizable as ever having been that color.  It was morbidly drenched with his crimson blood.  Kaylee rushed to Simon's side and knelt next to him.  She could feel the disgusting wetness as the pooling blood soaked into the fabric of her coveralls.  "Simon!" she gasped.  She was a little surprised when his face turned to hers, his eyes pain filled but open and alert.  He had managed to avoid going into shock.

"Kaylee" he huffed.  His breathing was labored and one didn't need a medical degree like his to figure out why.  He'd been shot at least twice with a large caliber gun.  There was a gaping hole in his shoulder as well as blood pooling from a wound farther to the left that clearly was the reason he'd been left for dead.

Kaylee stood up and pounded on a comm. panel by the remains of the door.  

"Can anyone hear me?  We need help down here!"  When she removed her hand there was static.  Her heart fell fast.  She couldn't do this alone.  She pressed the button again, "Anybody?"  This time the static was interrupted by Wash's strained voice.

"Kaylee?  That you?  Thank God.  Thought you might nota made it.  We've been callin' the engine room for the past 5 minutes."

"I'm in the infirmary.  Simon's been shot, he's bleeding pretty bad.  We need Zoe or Mal down here now"

"Damn bastards!  No can do on Zoe OR Mal. Mal's out cold up here, got smacked with some deck plating.  Zoe's pretty sure he'll be OK, just out of it for a little while.  But I don't know where she went off to now.  Maybe she's trying to find the others. We're going to set down on that planet.  I'll radio ahead and try and get a doctor there waiting for us."

"Alright, hurry Wash"

"Will do little lady"

Kaylee knelt back down next to Simon.  "What the hell did they use?" she marveled as one of her hands found his.

"Well, I'm not he weapons expert that Jayne is, but it looked like a big gun."  Simon coughed and it was a horrible sound.  A thin line of frothy, bright red blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth.  Kaylee couldn't stop her hand from flying to her mouth.  "Internal bleeding" explained the fallen doctor.  Tears ran down the young mechanic's face.  

"What do I do?"  Kaylee pleaded.  Simon squeezed his eyes shut against the pain for a moment before focusing on her again.  

"There's gauze in that top drawer above your right shoulder.  We need to stop the bleeding."   The girl jumped up and retrieved the airy, white material.  Then, despite the hiss of pain she pressed hard against the wound.  "Good" managed the doctor.  "Just tie some against the shoulder, it's not as bad.  Bullet went clean through and into the wall.  Lucky me" She nodded and did just that.  Kaylee was about to remove the blood soaked gauze from the other wound when she felt Simon's hand on her own.  "More on top of that, don't want to destroy any clotting that has occurred already."  Kaylee nodded and applied fresh gauze.  It was drenched quickly but she desperately applied all the pressure she could.  She used one hand to grab more fabric and left the other applying force against the wound.  Once the gauze had been procured and put in place she looked at Simon's face again.  

He was incredibly pale and sweat beaded on his brow and rolled down his temples to mix with the blood collecting under him.  "You're doing very well" he assured her.  "The gauze is lasting longer isn't if" Kaylee nodded mutely.  "See then, the bleeding's slowing down."  He coughed again.  

"Oh God, Simon"

"Kaylee" he squeezed her had to get her attention.  "Just in case I don't…you know, you can't let them get River back.  Someone's gotta look after her…the captain…"  Simon was fading.  The pain and blood loss were catching up with him.

She continued applying pressure until it appeared the bleeding had stopped.  But she knew Simon was far from out of the woods.  His pulse was fast, but weak.  He'd said something about 'internal bleeding'.  Kaylee didn't know too much but she knew that was bad.  Simon started coughing again, chest heaving as it tried to displace some of that escaped blood.  Kaylee scooted behind him and doing her best not to disturb his wounded shoulder pushed him up onto his good side.  It was something she'd done before and seemed to help him breath a bit better.  "That Ok Simon?"

He was fading, she could hear it in his voice, "Keeps me from chocking on the    blood." Kaylee couldn't stop thinking that he was dying.  "Should…raise…legs" he mumbled as his head dropped against Kaylee's arm.

She gently touched his forehead, it was burning with fever.  His head fell limply to the side when she removed her hand.  He was gone, completely unconscious; he would be offering no more guidance.  Kaylee griped his hand but found the appendage freezing.  Following his final instructions she leaned across his still body and used the hand wasn't in Simon's to drag one of the supply boxes the invader discarded under the doctor's legs.  She was more scared then she ever remembered being.  More scared than when the captain and Wash had been captured and she hadn't been able to shoot, more scared than when she saw River with that gun, even more scared than with Early.  She was scared because Simon's life was in her hands and she had no idea what to do. She held his cold hand and they sat waiting for help.

The medical team had been waiting as promised.  Zoe had led them to the infirmary and even the soldier was surprised by the sight.  'Bleeding pretty bad' really wasn't an accurate description of what was going on in the infirmary.  

The smell of blood hit you before you even entered the room.  The air in the hall was thick with that metallic smell.  Zoe knew that smell and hated it.  Inside, the room was a mess. It had been torn apart and clearly looted.  Right in the middle of the mess was a blood stained unconscious Simon being supported by a blood stained wide eyed Kaylee.  It was bad.  Zoe had seen a lot of death in her life.  She knew what it looked like, knew it intimately.  She was a soldier, been in battle, and that meant she had seen her friends dying before.  It wasn't something she would wish for anyone.  Poor little Kaylee, this had to have been the worst 45 minutes of her life.  Whatever was between them, Zoe wasn't blind, and she knew he was important to her.  Hell, she couldn't stand seeing Simon like that herself.  The whole crew had really warmed up to him while he was on Serenity.  It was shocking to see him like that.

The team, 3 guys in matching yellow jumpsuits, worked fast.  They produced a stretcher and gently nudged Kaylee out of the way to put the doctor on it.  They felt for a pulse, feeling the young man's neck in several places.

"Is he, is he…" her voice cracked and the tears were visibly ready to spill.

"He's still alive" one of the yellow suited men assured the trembling girl.  Then they lifted the stretcher and hurried off the ship with the crimson stained doctor.  Their expressions were grim and only brought more worry to his on looking friends.

The wait was bad.  The doctor had been advised of the situation and had Simon immediately taken to surgery.  He'd lost a lot of blood.  Kaylee had donated a pint of blood as soon as they'd announced that. They wouldn't let her give any more, no matter how much she pleaded.  Book had led her back to the waiting room to wait for news.  Mal had been taken to go get stitches in that gash on his head.  At least he didn't have to sit here waiting.  The rest of Serenity's crew was waiting on the ship for news.  Kaylee refused to stay there; she needed to know what was happening with Simon.  After hours the nurse had come out to the waiting room and said he'd pull through, that he was lucky because of the first aid.  


	5. five

When they brought Simon into the recovery room after the surgery Kaylee and Book were waiting there.  The orderlies were quiet as they transferred the young man from stretcher to bed.  He was very pale, the contrast between his skin and dark hair only served to make him look paler.  It was a little weird to think part of her was now swimming around in Simon.  Book rested a hand on the doctor and was chanting away in a language Kaylee didn't know.  It might have been Latin, which she was pretty sure Simon did know.  

She sat in the chair next to the bed and closed her eyes.  It had been such a long, scary day and her adrenaline was finally giving out.  She listened to Books foreign words.  She wondered if Simon could hear them.  She wondered if Book's order made him do this in Latin or if he was doing it so no one but the one he was praying for knew what he was saying.  Kaylee drifted off to sleep peacefully.  Book looked down at Simon and Kaylee.  Even he had to admit they sure were cute.  Kaylee moved a little in her sleep.  She was a hero; the little sprite of a girl had saved a life today.  

They said Simon would likely be out for another day or so.  As this wasn't an especially safe place for the doctor to be, even registered under a fake name, it was likely Captain Reynolds would be pulling a few strings to get Simon recovering back on Serenity.  So there was no need for Kaylee to spend all night falling out of an uncomfortable chair.  A nurse entered carrying a few pieces of equipment and followed by Wash.  The pilot pulled a stool from the corner and plopped down.  

"Hey preacher."  Wash greeted.  Then he turned back to the nurse.  "Hook me up". Wash was donating blood too.

"Calm down Mr. Gordon." She said pulling out a short pin.  "Last thing we check, hemoglobin level."  She took Wash's hand and pricked the pilot's finger, pressing a little square of paper against the drop.  The paper turned green and the nurse smiled.  Then she swabbed his arm and unwrapped a needle. The pilot winched a little when the needle went in, but the feeling passed before it really registered.  The Shepard smiled at the pilot and scooped up the petite mechanic.

"I'm going to take her back to Serenity." He told Wash, "Let her sleep in her own bed."

"Uh, be careful on the ladder."  Book thought for a minute.  "Well, she can sleep in Riv--Reeva's bed" he caught himself from using the other Tam sibling's name.  River was being kept well hidden, even though keeping her that way had become Zoe's full time job.  River wasn't exactly stable under normal circumstances, seeing her brother as he was, well, that's an outburst waiting to happen.  

"See ya"

As Book carried Kaylee down the hall he encountered Mal.  "She tuckered out?" the captain asked

"Well, she's had a bit of excitement today."

"Yeah, you could call it that."  Mal was quiet for a moment, thinking for a moment before he spoke again more slowly this time.  "We could have lost him today."  The anger was burning in him.  After he'd come around Jayne had explained to him what had happened.  How they'd driven off the pirates and that they'd been hired by Clawfield.  Then he'd asked for a bonus.  Mal was furious, but this wasn't the time.  They had to sort everything out first, get settled before they called on Byron.  His fuming was interrupted by the Shepard's words.

"But we didn't.  If we focus on what could have happened we won't appreciate what is happening as much.  Don't dwell Mal- "

"Fred Jones- still other dangers around here preacher"

"Yes Freddie, of course.  Why don't you just go see the passenger?"  Mal just nodded as he continued down the hall.

Mal entered the hospital room and looked around.  The fresh stitches in his head itched.  Why didn't the ones Simon put in itch like this?  Luckily, the only official looking person in the room was a little nurse talking to Wash.  Wash had the tube in his arm again, just like when his captain had needed the precious red fluid.  "I'm the universal donor" the pilot explained grinning.  

"I see."  Mal responded, sitting on the empty stool next to his crewman and rolling up his own sleeve.  The captain offered his bare arm to the girl.  She raised an eyebrow.

"Normally we have a screening process for donors but Mr. Smith's lost a lot and I think if I start demanding ID you guys won't be as generous."  As she said the alias they'd given Simon she gestured to his unmoving form on the bed.  "You got any diseases?"

"I'm clean" 

"Good enough" The nurse pulled her little silver wand out again and touched it to the inside of Mal's elbow.  No fever and normal blood pressure.  The little nurse picked up Mal's hand.  He looked at her and she stabbed his finger.  The paper turned green.  "Thank you".  She used a swab to disinfect Mal's arm and quickly stuck the needle in.  

To the captain's shock as the nurse finished his collection set up Jayne entered the already cramped room.  The big man looked about, obviously for a stool and finding none plopped himself on the floor next to Mal as he rolled up his sleeve.  "What are you doing here Jayne?  Need I remind you that you don't much care for George?"  Mal nodded his head in Simon's direction to remind Jayne of their passenger, the salesman, George Smith.

"I went to the infirmary; you know to check out the damage.  There was an awful lot of that blue blood of his splashed around."  The mercenary's voice was a low rumble but Mal heard him.  The captain just nodded, accepting. 

They sat there a few minutes in silence. It was not your typical mental image of three men who would be best described as pirates or general outlaws.  Nurse McGregor looked at the stony faced men for another moment before unhooking the blond who'd started first.  She was no idiot; she knew what these men were.  She knew that was not George Smith, traveling salesman, laying in one of her beds.  Misters Gordon, Jones, and Sanchez were no more real than the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, or the Easter bunny.   The wounded guy wasn't a passenger.  He was just another one of them, part of one of many crews doing whatever it took to survive.  Lucky for them Nurse McGregor really didn't care about what was really going on with these people.  Everyone out here had their own problems and she was no exception.  If they wanted to lie about him being a part of their crew, that was fine; wouldn't change anything for her.


	6. six

When George Smith was clearly stable a few credits in the right hands let him disappear.  Jayne and Mal carried Simon out under cover of darkness.  It was no doubt overkill, who would demand he stayed?  He was a stranger draining their supplies.  Jayne held the doctor under his arms and Mal had the man's knees over his forearms.  They walked in silence out into the city and got a cab to take them back to Serenity.  I was a short ride, only a few minutes.  The driver didn't ask any questions, despite the fact Mal had already made up the cover story about a night of hard drinking.  They were both still quiet as they carried him to his room.  Mal didn't know what Jayne was thinking, he rarely did anyway.  But he was thinking about how sour this job had turned; about how he had been betrayed.  This job had started out like so many others, but it wound up with them carrying one of his crew out of a hospital. The two men carefully set the doctor on the bed.

Mal couldn't help but be amazed at both how fragile Simon looked and how gentle Jayne was being.  He didn't think the mercenary had it in him.  The only reason he'd taken Jayne with him for this was because Wash was off with Zoe.  The two of them had suddenly decided life was uncertain and they should enjoy the time they had.  This meant they hadn't been seen out of their room much.  Seeing the captain looking at him Jayne growled as he moved his hands out from under the doctor's back. "What? I still don't like him."  But he softened just a little, "Just don't wanna hurt him more"

"Sorry I even questioned Jayne.  You are still a manly man.  Don't let anyone say anything different."  The mercenary took a semi-playful swing at the captain as he left Simon's room.

Mal looked at the pale man as he covered him with a blanket.  Kaylee appeared in the doorway.  "I was expecting you about now" the captain admitted.  The girl's eyes were locked on Simon.  "He's getting better" 

"He's so pale."

"He was always pale."

"Yeah, but don't he look paler?"

"A little; they said he'd be fine Kaylee.  Don't worry so much"

"I know" she admitted.  Mal ruffled her hair as he passed heading towards the door.  

"You going to keep him company for a while?"

"Yeah"

"Alright" Mal left, heading to the cockpit to find Wash.  Mal didn't take kindly to betrayal.  Now that everything was sorted out he had an old buddy to see again.

Mal slammed a paper down on Byron's desk and glared at the man.  "You set me up!"

"I did no such thing Mal!"

"You did, and you nearly killed my doctor.  So you will be paying the bill."

"I will not!"

"I got a confession; I know you set this up.  Did you want your supplier to find out you were planning to double cross him?"

"Let's talk about this Mal" Byron smiled, "We don't need to do anything we will regret later."

"He nearly died!"  Byron looked at the medical bill.  It was steep, but not as bad as what would happen to his business if Mal squealed.  

"I think we can work something out." He opened the desk drawer and pulled out a fund transfer slip.  

"You know I'm keeping the guns too, right?"

"But what will I tell the customer?  You're already late getting them there."

"Now see, that's not my problem, now is it.  My problem is that you betrayed me, sold me out to make a few more credits, and you nearly got the doc killed.  It might nota just been the doc, anyone could have ticked them off.  They sure didn't have a problem with the violence.  I'm going to need some compensation for my problems, hence the keeping of the guns."  

            "Now Mal..."  Mal whipped a gun out from under his shirt.  Byron really needed better security.

            "I'm sorry; did this seem like a request?  I'm just telling you what's going to happen.  Sign!"  Byron signed the transfer and eradicated their debt to the hospital.  Mal clapped him on the shoulder, "We won't be keeping in touch.  Have a nice life." Then Mal strode out of the office, twirling his gun casually.

            Kaylee looked at the sleeping Simon.  He had such rotten luck.  The engineer sighed.  Simon responded with a big yawn followed by a wince of pain.  Taking a big breath had used muscles that pulled at his wound.  The doctor slowly opened his eyes.  Kaylee's face lit up.  "You're awake!"

            "It would appear so" Simon admitted with another yawn.  He knew better than to try and sit up.  He'd seen plenty of patients spring up and have their world do a 90 degree flip.  So he continued to look straight up.  "Kaylee?"

            "Yeah?"  
            "Would you mind moving closer so I could see you?"

            "Sure Simon" Kaylee sat down on the edge of the bed next to him.  He smiled.

            "Thank you" he said with true heart felt sincerity.

            "I was only a foot or so over there" she gestured.

            "I mean for saving my life.  I'd have died there if you hadn't come along."

            Kaylee was near tears, "Oh, I don't wanna think about that anymore.  I was so scared, and and you…"  Simon moved his hand on top of hers.  It seemed to take a lot of his strength because then he closed his eyes.  It either took a lot of strength or he was shy about the action.  

            "Thank you" he repeated softly

            "Anytime.  But, uh, could we not make a habit of it, I think you should be in charge of the doctorin' and I'll stick to the engines."

            "Fair enough."


End file.
